Are rednecks becoming extinct?

[Quote from the Charlotte Observer] “Last Thursday, after a Capitol Hill news conference on his sport’s efforts toward diversity, NASCAR President Mike Helton told reporters, ‘We believe strongly that the old Southeastern redneck heritage that we had is no longer in existence.’”

[Derb] We are mainly a bunch of pasty-necked metrocons here at NRO, but we’d be sad to see the USA lose its good old boys, as defined by Tom Wolfe in his classic 1965 essay on Junior Johnson:

“A good old boy, I ought to explain, is a generic term in the rural South referring to a man, of any age, but more often young than not, who fits in with the status system of the region. It usually means he has a good sense of humor and enjoys ironic jokes, is tolerant and easygoing enough to get along in long conversations at places like the corner [!], and has a reasonable amount of physical courage.”

It may all be the fault of the drivers, though:

[Another quote from the Charlotte Observer] “More worrisome, perhaps, is another product of the new NASCAR — that blue-collar fans are having more difficulty finding drivers with whom they can identify. ‘I don’t think we have a working man’s driver,’ Wheeler said. ‘I hope one comes along soon, because we need that.’ Richard Rowell agrees. He grew up a block from the Earnhardt home in Kannapolis. But since Dale Sr. died at Daytona five years ago, Rowell has no one like the Pearsons and Pettys — rednecks he recognized in himself — to cheer. It’s the surest sign of how much the sport has changed. ‘I think a lot of people are like me,’ he said. ‘I’m just not as big a fan as I used to be.’”